Washable rug



Jan. 12, 1960 W. MITCHELL WASHABLE RUG Mitchell, New .York, N.Y., assign'or to Mitchell Accessories, Inc., Neyv Y ork, N.Y. W

William This invention relates to a washable rug having the configuration, for example, of a bear skin.

It is an object of this invention to provide a rug adapted to be washed in a conventional washing machine.

It is another object to provide a lifelike rug of inexpensive construction.

These and other objects will become apparent upon reading the following disclosure taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which;

Fig. 1 is a top view of the rug,

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the animal head, broken away in part to show the inner construction for giving depth to the head,

Fig. 3 is a section view taken substantially on line 3-3 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a section view taken on line 44 of Fig. 3

Fig. 5 is a view of the animal head turned inside out to show the snout construction and,

Fig. 6 is a view taken on line 6 -6 of Fig. 5.

The animal rug of this invention is preferably made from synthetic fur and consists of a body portion 10 secured by stitches to a head 11. The inventive merit of this invention resides in the construction of the head so as to give a three-dimensional or depth feature to the head thereby giving it lifelike qualities. The head is resilient to foot-traflic being so constructed as to rapidly spring-back with resiliency. In short the head is in eflfect elastic since it regains its three-dimensional eflfect immediately after the removal of foot pressure. Moreover, the entire rug is washable without need for detaching the animal head as in the case of many prior art rugs.

Turning to the drawing, the head 11 is made essentially from three pieces and is optionally provided with a gore piece to give extra depth to the head.

The head 11 (Figs. 2 and 5) is made from a forehead panel piece 12, a left jowl panel piece 13 and a right jowl panel piece 14.

The gist of this invention is the provision of a pocket in the head of the skin, said pocket being in effect the mouth of the head. The pocket so formed is fur-lined and functions as a resilient double layer pad, giving also the animal head a three dimensional appearance.

To provide the pocket in the animal head, the three head-forming pieces 12, 13 and 14 are provided with integral pocket-forming segments meeting to form the animal mouth.

The forehead panel 12 is provided with an integral spear-shaped quadrilateral appendage 15 comprising a pair of converging lines 16 and 17 converging to a point 18X (Fig. 5). The end of the lines 16 and 17, disposed away from point 18X, unite angularly with oppositely converging lines 18 and 19 respectively. Lines 18 and 19 do not terminate at a point but rather unite with another pair of converging lines 20 and 21 respectively. In short, the appearance of the appendage 15 is suggestive of a truncated diamond.

As shown in Fig. 5, the forehead 12 is bounded by a base line 22, a continuous but angular left side line formed nited States Patent [0 by constituent lines 20, 1S and 16 and a continuous but angular right side line formed by constituent lines 17, 19 and 21.

Clearly the substantially diamond shaped appendage 15 is an-integral part of the forehead 12. The appendage 15 need not be angularly diamond shaped for other shapes are operable in the formation of the mouth pocket of this invention.

The pocket of this invention is in effect a somewhat triangular pocket made from three segmental pieces, said pieces being integral with the three pieces 12, 13 and 14 forming the visible head of the animal.

The somewhat triangular pocket consists of a top wall formed by the forehead appendage 15 and a pair of angular side walls formed by the right and left jowl segments 23 and 24, respectively (Fig. 2).

The left jowl segment 23 and the right jowl segment 24 are sewn together along a straight seam line 25.

Jowl segment 23 has about one-half the longitudinal area of forehead segment or appendage 15 constituting the top wall of the mouth-pocket and jowl segment 24 also has about one-half the longitudinal area of the forehead segment 15.

Thus jowl segments 23 and 24 sewn along the seam line 25 have substantially the combined area and configuration of appendage 15. Right jowl segment 23 is provided with angular lines 17 and 19 and the left jowl segment 24 is provided with angular lines 16 and 18. The lines 17 and 19 of the jowl segment 23 are sewn to the lines 17 and 19 of the forehead segment 15 and the lines 16 and 18 of the jowl segment 24 are sewn to the lines 16 and 18 of the forehead segment 15. Manifestly, the mouth pocket is sewn with the fur side disposed inwardly (Fig. 5) and after the head forming pieces 12, 13 and 14 have been completely sewn together the head is turned inside-out except for said pocket. Clearly the head pieces 12, 13 and 14 all come to an apex 18X which is disposed within the head (Fig. 2).

Optionally a fur gore piece 30 preferably having the shape of a truncated triangle may be sewn below the forehead element and over the pocket or in spaced relationship to the pocket. The gore piece 30 is sewn into seam lines 20 and 21 during the construction of the head.

Obviously more than one gore piece 30 may be sewn into the animal head if greater bulk is desirable. Also ears 35 are sewn into the respective seam lines 20 and 21 and synthetic eyes attached to give the appearance of a lifelike animal head.

The mouth pocket may be of any desired length and may extend inwardly in the head cavity as far as the ears. The head is preferably made with the pocket only as the cushion or resilient element between the non-fur inside surface of forehead 12 and the non-fur inside surface of the sewn together jowls 13 and 14.

Preferably the jowls 13 and 14 are of slightly lesser longitudinal over-all length than the forehead 12 so that the forehead 12 has a small over-lapping portion 40 to which the body 10 is sewn. Thus the body 10 is sewn only to the forehead so that in washing the rug any water trapped momentarily in the head cavity escapes eas1 y.

This invention has been described by means of a plurality of embodiments but it is not to be limited to those illustrations as it is of greater scope.

I claim:

1. A washable rug having the configuration of a lifelike animal skin comprising a body portion and a head portion, said head portion comprising a forehead panel having a neck line, a left jowl panel having a neck line and a right jowl having a neck line, said forehead panel being sewn to said body portion, each of the head panels having an integral segment disposed away from its respec- 3 tive neckline, said segments being sewn to form a mouthpocket, said pocket being disposed substantially in spacedapart relationship interiorly into the animal head to form a cushion resilient to walking pressure and concealed within the head cavity.

2. The rug of claim 1 wherein the integral segment of the forehead panel is substantially diamond-shaped, the segments of each of said jowl panels being substantially semi-diamond shaped forming a substantially diamond shaped panel when sewn together along a common seam line thereby forming a triangular pocket within the mouth of the head.

3. The rug of claim 2 comprising a truncated triangle gore piece sewn in the opposed seam lines of the forehead panel and above said pocket whereby additional bulk and resiliency to walking pressure is given to the animal head.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,459,590 Junker June 19, 1923 2,636,287 Heilbronner Apr. 28, 1953 2,705,803 Sheldrick et a1 Apr. 12, 1955 2,727,242 Pascal Dec. 20, 1955 

